The trouble with games today

[Slowtrain]

If back in the Olden Days all games were at the same level as something like [insert whatever old games you love here], then maybe all the folks complaining about Games Today would have a point, but the best games tend to be the exception to the rule, and that's probably as true today as it was way back when. Then again, maybe STALKER will end up in CrashGirl's garbage pile.

 

I recognize we've been through variations on this discussion many times, HK, but what can I say, I believe what my experience shows me. I bought far more games in the mid to late 90s then I do now. Far far more. That tells me that there were more games worth buying during those days. If there were far more games worth buying then it is probably because there were more good games then there are now.

 

I agree that good games have always been a small percentage of total games released, but that small percentage was a lot bigger back in 1998. ALl I have to do is look at the game boxes in my closet to verify this.

 

*shrugs*

[Hell Kitty]

I buy just as many games in the mid to late 90s as I do now. That tells me that there were just as many games worth buying as back in those days. That there are just as many games worth buying then it is probably because there are just as many good games now as there was back then.

 

I've played and enjoyed many games, and while there have been times when I have been less or more interested in particular types of games, or gaming in general, the hobby has never let me down. All I have to do is look at the game boxes on my shelf to verify this.

 

So does my experience trump yours, and prove that games today are just as good as games of the past? Or does your experience trump mine, proving that older games are better than newer ones?

Edited April 26, 2008 by Hell Kitty

[thepixiesrock]

I don't know how she knows how many gmaes she's bought if she just throws them out after playing them.

[Slowtrain]

So does my experience trump yours, and prove that games today are just as good as games of the past? Or does your experience trump mine, proving that older games are better than newer ones?

 

Fair enough. There's always going to be the issue of taste and tolerance. For examples, there are certain genres of games that I don't ever play, such as sports games, or very rarely play, such as rts games, simply because it doesn't appeal to me to do so.

 

However, given that personal taste is consistent, ie my tastes and likes and dislikes haven't changed in the last 15 years regarding games, that still leaves the question of why did I buy and love so many games in the nineties and not so many now?

[Slowtrain]

I don't know how she knows how many gmaes she's bought if she just throws them out after playing them.

 

 

I refuse to let me life fill up with junk. If I own somethign for more than a year and never use it then it gets tossed, unless there is something very specific about it that makes it worth being saved.

 

If I ever get enough money to have an apartment bigger than 1 room maybe I'll consider saving a bit more junk. Donations to such a cause are welcome.

[thepixiesrock]

Do you even try to sell your games?

 

Edit: I'm sorry, wait, obviosuly you easily CAN sell your games if you get rid of them after a year of not playing them, unless you keep a game for ten years playing it regularly and then decide to sell it. So what, do you just hate not wasting?

Edited April 26, 2008 by thepixiesrock

[Slowtrain]

Do you even try to sell your games?

 

 

I give them away to people I know if they want them. Same with my cds and dvds and stuff.

[thepixiesrock]

So then you don't throw them out.

[Slowtrain]

So then you don't throw them out.

 

 

lol. well, first I offer them around and then what's left over gets tossed. So um yes and no.

[Llyranor]

I throw away material goods too, but that's because of my excess emotional baggage!

[Slowtrain]

I throw away material goods too, but that's because of my excess emotional baggage!

 

 

I find keeping my living area relatively free of old unused junk is good for my spiritual space as well. Seriously.

[Arkan]

Couldn't you just buy a folder with sleeves to keep all your games and discard the boxes? Real space saver. Sell them, give them away if you have to, but don't trash

[Hell Kitty]

However, given that personal taste is consistent

 

No it's not. All the games, movies, music, books, food, whatever else that you've consumed in your life, you like it just as much as every other time? Every game you've ever played you'd like or dislike just as much as you always did if you were to play it today? Maybe you're the exact same person you were 15 years ago, but I'm not. Of course 15 years ago I was 13, so I sure as hell hope I'm not that same.

 

I loved the game Midwinter 2 back on the Amiga, but playing it now (though emulation) is pretty horrible, and that's purely a technology issue, with the core gameplay being so primitive compared to modern games. There are some games I no longer play because I know them so well that it's just not that fun anymore. Sometime it might just depend on my mood, there have been many a demo that I've tried and dismissed, only to try again later and think it's great.

 

why did I buy and love so many games in the nineties and not so many now?

 

I have about 30 CDs in my music collection, and none were bought this century. Does that mean music today just isn't as good? That's just silly.

Edited April 26, 2008 by Hell Kitty

[Arkan]

I have about 30 CDs in my music collection, and none were bought this century. Does that mean music today just isn't as good? That's just silly.

Well...yeah.

[Slowtrain]

However, given that personal taste is consistent

 

No it's not. All the games, movies, music, books, food, whatever else that you've consumed in your life, you like it just as much as every other time? Every game you've ever played you'd like or dislike just as much as you always did if you were to play it today? Maybe you're the exact same person you were 15 years ago, but I'm not. Of course 15 years ago I was 13, so I sure as hell hope I'm not that same.

 

I loved the game Midwinter 2 back on the Amiga, but playing it now (though emulation) is pretty horrible, and that's purely a technology issue, with the core gameplay being so primitive compared to modern games. There are some games I no longer play because I know them so well that it's just not that fun anymore. Sometime it might just depend on my mood, there have been many a demo that I've tried and dismissed, only to try again later and think it's great.

 

why did I buy and love so many games in the nineties and not so many now?

 

I have about 30 CDs in my music collection, and none were bought this century. Does that mean music today just isn't as good? That's just silly.

 

OK, but you didn't even try to answer my question it seems. My personal experience shows that I was more likely to buy a game in 1998 then I am now. I maintain that is because there were more games worth buying. I will modify that statement by acknowledging that certain genres of games lie consistently outside my interest area: sports games didn't interest me in 1998, they don't interest me now. But within the genres of my interest there has definitely been a decline in games worth purchasing. It may be "silly" but regardless that is the way it is.

 

 

My taste in games has oblviously NOT changed since I still enjoy the games I purchased in 1998, although extreme repetition can take its toll to be sure. But I also buy and play a decent amount of current games most of which I enjoy to some degree or another so I am just as obviously not stuck in the past chewing on the dried bones of what once was. In fact, I am in a position of having a good awareness of what computer gaming was like in the 90's when we used to hang null modem cables out the windows for multi-player Doom sessions on our 486's as well as a good awareness of what computer gaming is like today when I am running broadband internet on a dual core sli box.

 

 

As a matter of fact let me just list the games that come to mind that I've played in the last couple years:

 

Bioshock

STALKER

Jagged Alliance 2

Crysis

The Witcher

FEAR

Oblivion

Far Cry

X3

 

That is certainly not a huge list of games played compared to some people on this forum, but it is very heavily weighted in favor of current games. Ergo, I am not still spritually ditzing around in the late 90s. I was there once; I am here now and honestly, I don't really want to go back. All I'm saying is what my experience tells me: the 90's produced more and a wider variety of engrossing games within the genres I frequent.

Edited April 26, 2008 by CrashGirl

[Slowtrain]

I should point out as well that entire genres of games have severly diminished or disappeared entirely sicne the 90s: FLight sims used to be so common you could find 5 or six new ones at any given time, heck sims of any kind are pretty rare now. Squad tactics games used to be common. They are pretty much gone now. CRPGS are more or less non-existent now. HoMM, Warlords, there are no games like that anymore. Galactic domination games are almost gone.

 

Hopefully some of this is merely cyclic, but it appears to me that the game industry has significantly reduced much of its variety as well as its quality.

[Moatilliatta]

HoMM=Heores of Might and Magic? The fifth one was released recently and was quite good.

Edited April 26, 2008 by Moatilliatta

[Slowtrain]

HoMM=Heores of Might and Magic? The fifth one was released recently and was quite good.

 

 

That's true and Master of Orion 3 was released a couple years before that. Some of these ongoing series are still lingering about, but they seem much more fringe than they used to be. Note that I am not equating fringe with anything bad here, but rather simply marginalized.

 

Although isn't there a HoMM MMORPG in development or something? That actually could be kind of interesting.

[Moatilliatta]

Wikipedia says so and as such it must be true.

 

Edit: Woah wait... browser based?

Edited April 26, 2008 by Moatilliatta

[Dark_Raven]

So then you don't throw them out.

 

 

lol. well, first I offer them around and then what's left over gets tossed. So um yes and no.

You throw game away?? Some of the older games are hard to find and when you find them, they're expensive.

[Hell Kitty]

OK, but you didn't even try to answer my question it seems.

 

That's because you're the only one that can answer it, I don't know what goes on in that crazy head of yours. Besides you've answered it yourself in both this post and the next - there are types of games you just aren't ever going to be interested in, and there are types of games which don't get made as much as they used to (just as there are types of games that were never made in the past). The industry has changed, not for better or worse, but you haven't.

 

If you aren't interested in a game, then of course you're not going to find it to be worth purchasing, but that has nothing to do with the quality of the game, how "good" the game is.